The Pennybacker Bridge

"Pennybacker Bridge" is the official name of the structure we Austinites refer to as the "360 Bridge". The structure was named after Percy Pennybacker, a former designer for the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT). It was designed by Clearwater Constructers out of Colorado and opened to traffic on December 3, 1982. Although it spans 1,150 feet, the bridge does not touch the comfortable waters of Lake Austin. It was designed as such in order to allow boat traffic to move freely under it. The bridge is upheld by 72 steel cables, each of which is connected to the arched support beams grounded in either side. It was the second bridge of it's kind built in the world.

The Pennybacker Bridge serves as more than just as a medium for crossing this dammed section of the Colorado River. It additionally serves as a connector for two very different pieces of the city as well as a hub for recreation of all types. This bridge is truly host to a 'boatload' of activity. It sits perpendicular to the Austin Country Club Golf Course as well as the lake which runs under it. Each every warm day of the year, boats cruise just 100 feet below it. People visit the areas near this bridge in order to escape from the high entropy of the city they work in. The bridge is witness to a host of emotions from the dwellers of the city pass over it each and every day. By morning, parents are driving children to school and adults are hastily headed to work, most distracted by thoughts of the day ahead. By afternoon, people have lost the stress they carried by morning, their minds flow as freely as the boats which skim atop the water. People use the urban space in a variety of ways, utilizing each and every square inch of this urban oasis of grass and water. The bridge however, is a constant, always standing as a symbol of the versatility of the city of Austin as shown by those who pass over and under it each and every day. It's not in every city that you can go to work by morning and be on the lake in the afternoon.

Below is a neat 3-D Model of the Pennybacker Bridge:

Here is a link to a 360 degree panorama taken from a position adjacent to the bridge.